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Nicole Ourada: Preparing for the NCAA Championships

Stanford, Calif. - Stanford women's gymnastics is busy preparing for the NCAA National Championships next weekend in Athens, Ga. and a big part of their success this season has been due to junior Nicole Ourada. Ourada scored a 39.350 in the all-around at the NCAA Central Region, which was the fifth highest score at the meet.

Ourada talks about how the team is preparing for the big meet next weekend and how they are looking forward to participating in another NCAA Championship.

Describe making it to NCAA Nationals and participating in another NCAA Championship: Making it to NCAAs is very exciting and is a perfect way to showcase all of the hard work that our team has done this season. It is also a great way to send out our six seniors, giving us another chance to compete together as a team and contend for a National Championship!

What is the team focusing on this week? This week the team has been focusing on continuing to build our confidence on each event by doing a lot of pressure sets. Also many of the girls are working on increasing the difficulty in their routines by making a few adds. Most of all we are enjoying the last few chances that we have to workout together this season.

Describe the feeling going into Nationals with last year's experience under your belt? It is awesome having last years experience under our belt because we know what to expect. We saw how close the competition can be and just how important it is to save every quarter tenth. Also we know that in order to win the meet we are going to have to increase the difficulty in our routines on the night of Super Six. This meet is also very high energy, which makes it a lot of fun however we have to make sure we stay focused on our team and compete like we have been practicing in the gym.

Talk about a memorable moment this season out of the gym this season: A memorable moment from outside of the gym this season was our retreat at the beginning of the year. We went to Tahoe and the coaches created a mini triathlon for the team to complete...except I don't think they realized how difficult it was really going to be. Everyone pushed through it (we have some priceless pictures to laugh at now) and it really set the tone of this year's team. We have had some ups and downs, but we embraced the obstacles as they came proving that we are a tough team and one to watch out for next weekend!!